Lessons for Life
by pegasus writing-dragon
Summary: This is a story that i started a little while ago when i was introduced to fanfiction. it involves a beaten harry, confused snape and an agitated weasly family. warning: child abuse.
1. Chapter 1

Harry James Potter was sitting on his bed in his tiny room at his relatives house. He hated summer, all it ever meant for him was work or days spent locked in his room with nothing at all to do. He sighed, looking through the heavy steel bars on his window. These were curtesy of his uncle, who had put them in after he had finished his first year at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry when an accident revealed to them that he wasn't allowed to use magic out of school. You see Harry was not an ordinary boy but a wizard, reviled by his 'family', Petunia his mother's sister, her husband Vernon Dursley and their son Dudley for this ability. But life was not all that easy for Harry even when he was with his own kind for half hidden under his messy black hair was a scar shaped like a lightning bolt. This scar was a constant reminder of an event which happened when he was only a baby, the same night that he was placed with his oh-so-loving aunt and uncle.

For years the dark lord Voldemort and his followers had hovered like a cloud of fear over witches and wizards all over the country going where ever they pleased with a single thought and a flick of a wand. For them murder and torture were fun and cursing other wizards to do the same was amusing. At that time nobody knew who to trust and everyone who stood against him was instantly targeted. Among those who stood against this tyrant were his parents, Lily and James Potter. It was Halloween when he struck with out warning, storming the house and killing first James and then Lily while they pleaded for his, Harry's life. The dark lord had laughed at this before turning his wand on the infant. But an amazing thing happened the curse which Voldemort had used on so many others including his parents was some how reflected back onto him leaving Harry with nothing but that scar to show. It was because of that scar that Harry was always singled out he was the savoir of wizard-kind, the only one to have survived the killing curse, the boy-who-lived.

And now that tyrant was back. Harry had seen it with his own eyes, he had even been forced to aid in his re-birth. It was, from his point of view, his fault that the dark lord was back even stronger than before and it was his fault that Cedric was dead. The triwizard tournament had been held at Hogwarts that year and even though he was under age and could not have entered it, he had found himself competing under a fourth school alongside his fellow student, a Hufflepuff named Cedric Diggory. There had been three challenges to be completed with the best marks and each of them had been extremely dangerous. The final one was to work through a large maze and find the tri-wizard cup. Harry and Cedric had found the cup at the same time and both being so noble neither would take the cup insisting that the other should until Harry suggested that they take the cup together. It wasn't until they had grabbed it that they realised that the cup had been turned into a port key, instantly transporting them to a graveyard where Wormtail or Peter Pettigrew was waiting. After watching Peter kill Cedric he was forced to watch in horror as Pettigrew concocted a vile potion which used his blood among other things to resurrect Tom Marvolo Riddle, the Lord Voldemort. He had managed to escape after a short dual with Lord Voldemort and grab the cup while holding Cedric's body in his other hand, transporting them both back to Hogwarts. His arrival with Cedric's body had caused an uproar and the news that the dark lord had returned was met with ridicule from the ministry, only professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts and the teaching staff had believed him. Somehow his relatives had managed to find out about his sudden appearance with Cedric's body and were treating him like a murderer, locking him up was only the beginning of his punishment.

From the vantage point of his window Harry could just see the street as the sun set, tinting the trees orange. At the moment everything was quiet, but that was only because Dudley was out picking on some other defenceless person and uncle Vernon was out at the pub. When they were at home it was a whole different issue…

_ Flash back_

'_Boy! You get here! There's filth all over this room, you had better get it spotless by the time Dudders and I get back from the movies or you'll regret the day your parents first laid eyes on each other.' _

_He gestured at Dudley's bedroom, which, as usual had new, used and broken things all over it along with assorted lolly and chip packets. Off to one side Dudley was glaring at him, daring him to throw out anything. _

_Sighing he said in an utterly toneless voice, 'Yes uncle Vernon.'_

'_Don't answer me like that, boy!' _

_Harry doubled over as his uncle's fist slammed into his stomach, followed up by a few more punches and a backhanded slap for good measure. He flew across the room, head bouncing off the wall with a sickening thud and pain lanced through his skull as he slumped to the floor._

_End_

Harry moved at the memory of the scene and flinched as pain lanced through his side, leaving him gasping shallowly. In a way, Harry felt that he deserved some of the harsh treatment but even with all his guilt over Cedric's death he knew that this was more than just for that. That last beating had been three days ago, he had been saved from a thrashing when uncle Vernon arrived home by a visit from one of aunt Petunia's friends, but today he might not be so lucky. Slowly the street darkened towards evening. He saw old Mrs Figg walk home carrying a bag of shopping, a few cars went by but privet drive stayed disappointingly quiet. His stomach growled at the sight of the bag. He had been in this room since the holidays began a week ago and hadn't seen food more than twice; he had given most of it to Hedwig to keep her quiet.

As the last light faded the street was lit up by headlights, which he was certain stopped out the front of number 4. Hedwig hooted softly at him from her cage in the corner.

'I saw him too, girl.'

Hedwig hooted again.

'Harry Potter!' came a roar from down stairs. He heard the unsteady thumping of uncle Vernon's feet on the stairs, not a good sign for him. A cold sweat ran between his shoulder blades. There was a rattling from the lock on the door and he stood and turned to face his uncle. For a second everything was silent.

The door slammed open to reveal Vernon, red in the face with a vein throbbing in his temple. At the sight of Harry standing defiantly in the middle of the room he stomped forward menacingly, an effect that was marred by an unsteady lurch.

'Shut that infernal bird up, boy.'

'Yes, uncle Vernon.' Vernon's face darkened to a violent shade of purple. He grunted a few times but instead of speaking he sent Harry spinning across the room with the back of his hand. After a moment on his hands and knees Harry pushed himself back onto his feet, swaying a little but standing upright. Vernon's face darkened even further.

Bellowing like an enraged bull he stepped forward grabbing Hedwig's cage and threw it Harry, leaping after it he struck out again and again, leaving no time for recovery.

A/N I am a new writer and am not very sure of the quality of my work. I have also only edited it by my self but there should be few mistakes.


	2. Chapter 2

Ginny Weasley sighed; she was starting to hate it when her brothers came home from work or school, especially the twins. Fred and George had somehow managed to get some money and now had their own joke shop and were keen to test their inventions on anyone they could. She readily admitted that they were smart, and often a lot of fun, but when they were around you could never tell what was about to happen. There was so many that didn't quite work properly that it was quite risky touching or eating anything they might have put down. It was also not a very good idea to say anything that you might regret because after the extendable ears were found out they had made several other wonderful little gadgets to achieve an even better result.

But even they were preferable to Percy. Every time he came home from his job at the ministry he was more snobbish and aloof from the rest of the family, wrecking havoc on the nerves and tempers of the whole family. His snide comments aimed exactly where he knew would hurt most, especially towards their father, were getting on her nerves. Luckily, his stays were getting less and less frequent as the year went on. As bad as she felt for even thinking it, it was a relief each evening that he failed to come home.

Bill wasn't so bad, but he worked as a curse-breaker in Egypt for Gringotts bank far enough away that visits were fairly rare. Especially with her going to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It was the same with Charlie who was her favourite of her six brothers, he was always somewhere with his dragons. At the moment it was Romania but he could be working anywhere.

The family was getting so tense that she was looking forward to getting back to school. She knew that she wasn't helping in that through out the week she kept getting this feeling that something was wrong which made her snappy. Ginny had longed for school every year since Charlie had started but this time it was more to escape from the tension at home than to get to use magic regularly like every one else although that also had a part in it. As it always did as soon as she thought of the school life a mental picture of Harry Potter popped into her mind's eye. His continually messy black hair, the lightning bolt scar and those glowing emerald eyes that had first caught her attention. She smiled to her self as she brushed her mid-back length red hair.

'Just a minute' she yelled back down the stairs in answer to her mother's call that dinner was ready. "I really can't wait until he comes over this holidays." And with that she leapt off her bed and race down the stairs happier than she had been all day. But it wasn't to last.

Ten minutes later the tension at the Weasley's dinner table had almost reached breaking point. Percy had come home for the first time this fortnight and had glared at her for disturbing him, when she knocked on his door, to ask him to join them for dinner. He had sneered at her request and told her that the house elf he had borrowed off of Mr Crouch did a much better job of cooking than she had ever done. Now everyone was sitting around the table, staring into their plates. Even the twins were silent.

'If that son of ours does something like this again…' Arthur's outburst was cut short by a sobbing gasp from Molly. Ginny lent over and hugged her mother, trying to keep from crying as well. She had been standing on the stairs watching and was shocked that he could even contemplate doing such a thing, let alone actually do it. She had expected him to at least look slightly remorseful as he shut the door but he hadn't. That was what had cut deepest. She looked over at Ron who was sitting very still glaring at his plate with his knife clenched in his fist, so tight that he was shaking. He stood suddenly and ran from the room, heading up stairs. That got everyone's attention, Fred and George leapt up together and sprinted after their brother to stop him doing anything overly stupid.

'Lets all just go to our rooms to calm down.' Arthur suggested his voice quavering slightly with the effort it was taking him to keep a semi-neutral tone. Standing he walked up stairs towards his and Molly's room. After a moment Molly climbed slowly to her feet and followed him, leaving Ginny sitting in the kitchen by herself. It was quiet, too quiet for the Weasley house.

'Fred or George must have dragged Ron into their room.' She thought. The twins' room permanently had a silencing charm on it so their experiments and the explosions that usually accompanied them didn't disturb the rest of the house as often. 'There is no way that Ron would have given up that easily, by the look on his face he was about ready to use the knife he took with him on the first thing that tried to get between him and that bastard who used to be our brother.'

The sun had finished setting and the last light faded before Ginny moved from the table. Sighing she stood slowly and made her way up to her room. As she passed Percy's door she paused to glare at the door, how could he be so insensitive! As she stood a feeling of unease came over her, closely followed by fear. An answer had appeared in her mind, but surely even he wouldn't be so stupid as to trust that monster. Running the rest of the way to her room, she slammed the door shut and dived on her bed, her Gryffindor pride forcing her to resist the temptation to hide under the blankets. How long she lay there she didn't know, but eventually she drifted into a fitful sleep.

I already had this chapter and 1 other written so I will put that one on too.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:  the characters in this story (or at least most of them) are not mine. They belong to the excellent J.K Rowling, lucky her. Any way I have borrowed them for now to do with as I wish and will return them later.

The owl flew unsteadily through the night, her head was hurting and she was fairly sure her wing was fractured but she had to keep going. She remembered feeling uneasy, and her master telling her that he had seen the Dreadful Man coming too. She had tried to respond to his words to reassure him but in doing so she had attracted the attention of the Dreadful Man. He had thrown her cage across the room in his rage. Oh how that had hurt! Her head had hit the floor as the door flew open. Her master was screaming as she scrambled to her feet and launched herself at the Dreadful Man. He swung his fist at her causing she to screech and swerve to avoid being flung away again.

'Go to the Weasley's' she heard him call to her, gasping with the effort. 'Get help'

With that she had swooped past the Dreadful Man, dodging as he made a snatch at her. The woman had screamed as she soared overhead, towards the nearest window and tried to catch her but the master was depending on her, she had to get out.

That had been almost ten minutes ago and how her strength was running out fast. A dark shape dove at her from higher in the sky. A second later she recognised the figure to be Argon, one of the local owls she had met by chance in the last holidays. He had brought mice and scraps for her to share with her master, he couldn't understand why she or any other served a human but had helped anyway. He pulled out his dive and glided along silently asking her what had happened to make her fly in such poor condition.

'Master needs help' she hooted. 'Please help me, I can't make it much farther.'

'Why don't you stop for a while?' he asked in confusion.

'I can't stop Argon, master might die if I don't get help soon.'

He didn't understand any more than before, but as the white owl's wings faltered he only hesitated a moment before stooping to catch her in his talons, trying not to harm her flight feathers.

'The Weasley's' she called softly to him. 'Must reach the Weasley's.'

He didn't know who or what the Weasley's were but trusting that she had been going in their general direction, he flew on.

That is all for now. I hope to update in a week or so but my access to the internet is very limited. Please review and feel free to criticise, it will be welcome. Oh and if you happen to come up with any thing that I could use as a name for this story please tell me.


	4. Chapter 4

A tapping on her window woke Ginny less than half an hour after she had drifted off. Sitting up she saw a large dark coloured owl perched outside. When she opened the window she noticed that it wasn't carrying a letter and was rather hesitant to let her touch it. It launched off the sill hooting loudly and caught her hair in its talons before flying out the window again. Hovering just out of reach it hooted again.

'You want me to follow, do you?' it screeched as she turned and ran down the stairs but followed, trying to find out what she was doing. When she burst through the front door and out into the night, it plunged past her. Sprinting as fast as she could, Ginny chased after it and a few minutes later, when she was about to give up it plunged into the grass ahead of her. Wheeling upwards again it hovered above that place. Putting in one last burst of speed she dropped to her knees and stared in shock at the limp form of a snowy owl.

'Hedwig!' she gasped carefully lifting her. Walking as fast and smoothly as she could it took Ginny almost fifteen minutes to walk back to the house.

The first thing that Ginny did when she got in was on lay Hedwig on the table, the dark owl landed next to her. Nipping at her he managed to get her to wake up.

'Mum!' she called, as Hedwig tried to stand. 'Come quickly!'

A few seconds later her mother walked slowly into the room and seeing Hedwig on the table, she gasped.

'What hap… How did… When did you find her? Why is she here?'

'I don't know mum. This owl woke me up and convinced me to follow it and it took me straight to her. She was trying to fly here, Harry most likely sent her but there is no message with either of them.' As she spoke Hedwig stood and started hooting and trying to take off. Molly grabbed her, holding her wings at her side.

'Something must be wrong with Harry. Can you floo Professor Dumbledore? I'll hold her,' she pointed at the owl with her chin. 'She is going to hurt herself if I let her go.'

Running over to the fire she snatched a fist full of powder from the jar on the mantle, throwing it into the fire in the same movement.

'Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts.' She yelled into the fire. 'Professor, are you there?'

A moment later professor Dumbledore's head appeared in the fire. 'Miss Weasley,' he greeted her. 'I didn't expect a fire call from you. What is the matter?' Molly moved quickly into view, still holding Hedwig tightly. 'Mrs Weasley, why is she with you? Is Harry there?'

'This is why I asked Ginny to call you. A dark coloured owl, which I have never seen before, took Ginny out to find her; she isn't in a very good condition. Would you be able to send a professor around to check on him for us? I'll keep Hedwig here.'

'I'll do that straight away, Molly. I'll fire call you as soon as we get back.' There was a small pop and professor Dumbledore disappeared.

Sighing, Molly turned to her daughter. 'All we can do now is wait.' Summoning a cage she carefully put Hedwig in it, reassuring her that someone was going to check on Harry and that he would be perfectly safe now. After a short time she did settle and the dark owl came to perch next to the cage both of them going to sleep. Too worried to sleep Ginny and Molly moved into the sitting room, and sat in front of the fire talking, waiting for the fire call that would tell them why Hedwig was in her condition and why she was with them in the first place.


	5. Chapter 5

Severus Snape, the head of slytherin house and potions master of Hogwarts was sitting at his desk in his private rooms when Dumbledore called him up. Walking over to the fire place he grabbed a fistful of floo powder and threw it into the flames. When he emerged from the fire in the headmasters office closely followed by Minerva McGonagall, transfiguration professor and head of Gryffindor.

'You called, headmaster?' he asked in his usual, silky tone.

'Yes, we have a small errand over at privet drive.'

'Privet drive? Isn't that where Harry lives?' professor McGonagall asked. 'Why would we need to go there?'

'Mr Potter's owl just turned up at the Weasley's without a note. She has damage to her wing and head, like she has hit something and she was being restrained.'

'You don't think something has happened to Harry, do you?' professor McGonagall asked slightly worried. Snape's face hardened at the mention of Harry Potter. He didn't like the boy, even at the best of times. Dumbledore's precious golden boy, the boy who lived, the ever-popular Potter. He was probably sitting at home on his high-and-mighty backside with those muggle relatives of his running to do every thing he asks. Anyway the damage to the owl could easily be explained by someone checking the mail that goes past. If he was entirely honest with himself he would have admitted that he was jealous of the Gryffindor but as it was he just buried those feelings deep inside and kept his mask set.

'At this point I don't know, but the sooner we get there the sooner we can know.' With that said he quickly flooed to Diagon alley, before apparating to privet drive.

Walking down the dark street to number 4, Professor Dumbledore led the way up to the door, knocking politely on the door. A long necked woman who looked surprisingly like a horse opened the door. At the sight of the wizards and witch, she gasped and the blood drained from her face.

'Vernon!' she screeched.

She was answered with a loud grunt and a large man with almost no neck came lumbering into the hall. He stopped dead at the sight of the old man and his companions on his doorstep and his already red face turned a weird shade of purple.

'Good day to you, Mrs Dursley, Mr Dursley.' Professor Dumbledore said politely.

'You!' Vernon half snarled and half gasped. 'Why the hell are you here?'

'We are here to speak to Mr Potter.' Ordinarily Vernon would have denied the existence of the boy, but his alcohol muddled brain registered the fact that these freaks knew for certain that he was in the house and if he did try they would search the place.

'Why should I let you? You have no right to come barging up here and demand to see the boy.'

'I think it would be in your best interest to allow us to see him.'

'How dare you try to threaten me on my own property. I demand you leave at once.'

'I think you'll find that I do in fact have the right to check up on a child that I placed with you.'

'And I have the right to say that no upstart sleight-of-hand will be entering this house, goodbye.' He slammed the door in their faces, or tried to. Snape had been standing menacingly behind and to the right of the headmaster with McGonagall to the left up to this point but at that remark he stepped forward and forced the door back open. With an infamous sneer he stalked into the house, robes billowing dramatically as he moved. He didn't like the boy in the least but he would never let an insult like that stand. The Dursleys looked at his face and started retreating back into their living area, a few meters Vernon tried to stand up to him with a sneer of his own. A pitiful attempt, one that was cut off with a death glare. Vernon's face lost most of its colour and he stumbled back again. From somewhere upstairs came a pained hiss followed by a strangled sounding scream. With one last sneer Snape pushed past the fat muggle and bounded up the stairs three at a time not really knowing what to expect. He opened the first door he came to, the master bedroom. The second was the bathroom, and then he noticed a locked and chained door near the end of the hall. What ever he may have expected, it wasn't the sight that greeted him when he muttered an unlocking charm and pushed the door open. Being in the dark lords ranks, spy or not he had seen similar things but that still didn't prepare him for the amount of damage that could be done to someone by non-magical means. Under the bared window on the far side of the room, in pool of his blood and other things lay the boy-who-lived. His face was unrecognisable in the dim light, his scar almost hidden under the caked blood, his oversized clothes were ripped and torn revealing skin that was mottled with black and purple. In two places shards of bone were sticking through the skin and Snape suspected there were a few ribs broken too by the way he was breathing.

'Albus!' he shouted casting a clotting spell on all the bleeding wounds that he could see. Harry moved his head a tiny bit and his eyes slowly opened accompanied with a sudden increase in his rate of breathing. When he saw some one standing over him gave a small squeak and flinched violently rolling himself onto his back in an effort to get away. After carefully reassuring the terrified child that he was not his uncle Snape snatched a vial of blood replenishing potion from a pocket and carefully tipped it in his mouth asking him to try to swallow it. After a small struggle the boy managed and mercifully fainted. From the amount of blood on the floor and caked in his clothing it was a miracle that the boy was still alive let alone awake and responding. A footfall behind him and a soft gasp announced the arrival of the other Professors.

'Severus, he isn't, is he…'

'Yes, he is alive. I have given him a blood potion and clotted his wounds I am yet to discover the true extent of his injuries.' He sat back on his heels and muttered a quick spell, 'this isn't good at all. We should have brought Poppy with us, healing spells aren't my strong point. As far as I can see, the collarbone, left ankle and femur are broken as well as 4 ribs and his right wrist. His skull appears to be fractured, hopefully there is no lasting damage to his brain. His spine doesn't seem to have any damage to it but it is one of the few places that is still whole.'

The headmaster stepped forward quickly and cast an immobilisation charm on the battered figure before levitating him and portkeying them all straight to the hospital wing of Hogwarts.

'Poppy!' McGonagall yelled as they hit the floor. The medi-witch came bustling out of her office, she shrieked at the sight of the figure being levitated onto one of the beds, running over.

'What happened.'

'His family seemed to have wanted to punish him for something or another and the result, well you can see that for your self.'

Stepping up to the side of the bed she began casting spell after spell, occasionally calling for Severus to give him certain potions. Together the two of them worked into the night, rebuilding the boy's broken body.


	6. Chapter 6

Dumbledore and McGonagall went to the headmaster's office and flooed to the Weasley's to tell them what they had found. They stepped out of the fireplace a few minutes later to find that Ron had come down to join his sister sitting by the fire.

'Where has your mother gone?' Dumbledore asked them after a quick glance around.

'She took Hedwig in to get her checked out at Eeylops Owl Emporium; the other owl went with them. Have you seen an almost totally black owl before? The one who led me to Hedwig is. He's about the size and doesn't like to be touched so he might be new.'

Dumbledore looked thoughtful for a moment, 'The only black owl that I have seen is Professor Snape's eagle owl. Have you Minerva?'

'No, I have always thought Severus's owl to be the only one of its colour and size in the area.' She answered.

'I don't know exactly what breed it is but I am almost certain it wasn't an eagle owl. And anyway, why would Professor Snape's owl be following Hedwig?'

'That is a good point. I do believe we may have a wild owl with us.' Dumbledore sounded fairly happy about this for some reason.

'That would definitely explain its reluctance to be handled.' Ginny said looking up at the two teachers and realised that they were still standing near the fire. 'I'm sorry professors, would you like a seat while we wait for mum to get back?' she said as she scrambled to her feet.

'Thankyou, Miss Weasley.' Dumbledore replied the ever-present twinkle springing to life at her embarrassment with forgetting. He looked over at Ron as he seated himself in an armchair in front of the fire. He had not said a word since they had arrived but was curled tensely in the chair at the other side of the room staring into the fireplace. After a moments silence Ginny spoke again.

'Did you check? Was he alright?'

'That, Miss Weasley, is the reason we are here. Unfortunately your suspicions have been confirmed and Harry is currently in the hospital wing at Hogwarts.'

Ron's head snapped up, a horrified look on his face. 'What happened? It wasn't an attack, was it?'

'No Mr Weasley, it was not Voldemort who harmed Harry.'

'But who was it? And what suspicions?'

'I'm afraid you will have to wait until your mother returns to hear the full story of what has occurred, but we can fill you in on some of tonight's events. Miss Weasley, would you please tell us how you discovered this...'

Professor McGonagall interrupted him. 'Headmaster, would it not be more prudent to inform the whole family?'

Professor Dumbledore glanced at the two Weasley's in the room before answering. 'That may be the best course of action to take; otherwise we will have to explain it again. As it is we will have to repeat the story to the rest of the staff at Hogwarts and possibly the members of the Order.' He looked again at the Weasley's. 'How many of your brothers are here at the moment?'

'Bill and Charlie aren't here but every one else is.' Ron answered him with a sharper tone of voice than he should have. As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted answering because after the tension he had endured so far he knew he wouldn't be able to control his tone. 'Percy is home at the moment too, not that he is ever around for us to see that. He just has this way that as soon as he walks into the house, every one starts getting snappy. This time though he went too far and insulted mum, I just can't take the strain anymore, even dad is angry with him.' He said with a sightly shamed expression on his face. 'Sorry, professors.'

'Does he now, it all right my boy, I can understand where you are coming from. I think it might be best if we leave him out then. Could you please ask your brothers and father if they would like to come down here.' He turned to Ginny; 'I do believe that some tea is in order, if you would be so kind.'

'Yes sir, I'll go make it. How do you like it, sugar? Milk?'

'Black with two sugars.' He replied.

'Straight black for me thank you.' Professor McGonagall requested.

'Ron?'

'I'm right for now Ginny. Thanks for asking though.'

They both turned and went their own ways, Ginny into the kitchen and Ron up the stairs at the opposite side of the room.

Ten minutes later they were all seated in the on the couches in front of the fire. Professor Dumbledore was about to start when the fire flared green and Mrs Weasley stumbled out on the tiles in front of the grate. She had Hedwig held tightly to her chest and the black owl perched on her shoulder. As soon as she was out the owl took off, soaring as high as he could over the heads of the seated Weasley's and perching on the windowsill in the kitchen.

'Albus, Minerva what brings you here.' Her face suddenly fell. 'It wasn't as bad as we thought was it? He is alright, isn't he?'

'Unfortunately no Molly. We went to check on him like you suggested and found him badly injured and locked in one of the smallest rooms in the house. Hedwig's cage was on the floor at the other side of the room to where it appears to have sat and it was dented in several places, almost beyond the muggle point of repair.' Dumbledore looked as though he was abut to go on when Ron spoke up for the rest of the family.

'What are you talking about. What's wrong with Harry? It must be bad for you both to be here and yet you told me that there hasn't been an attack.'

'Well where should we start the recount of this unfortunate turn of events?' he thought for a minute looking at the occupants of the room. 'Miss Weasley, since your part is what led to the discovery of the situation, why don't you start?'

Just as she finished the fire flared green and professor Snape stepped gracefully out of the grate.

'Headmaster, Minerva, Mrs Weasley.' He said with a slight sneer at his surroundings and the red-haired family sitting at various points of the room.

'How is he?' the question and variations of it came from all sides of the room.

Snape's sneer intensified. 'He'll live, but that is nothing surprising, now is it.'

'Now Severus, that is hardly Harry's fault. Does he have any lasting damage that you and Poppy were not able to fully repair.'

'Not really, a couple of extra scars where the bone showed through and from a few of the larger cuts. Other than a large headache, we believe that there will be no lasting damage from his skull. He is going to be sore and is not to leave the hospital wing for a few weeks, as he almost didn't come through. You know that the spells used to heal most wounds require some energy from the person they are being used on, well it seems that he hasn't eaten since the feast over a week ago and did not have the required energy.'

A deep, shocked silence descended over the room, broken only by the crackling of the fire. This was beyond anything that any of them had imagined. As the silence dragged on Snape's face softened out of its harsh expression slightly.

'How bad was it?' Mrs Weasley finally asked. "It must have been bad indeed for him to look like that and the description!" she thought. "How could anyone do something like that to someone else, especially when that person was their own family. And starving him on top of every thing else."

'There was enough damaged done to the boy that I can say for certain that he would not have seen the sun set again, if he had managed to last until it rises. He very nearly didn't survive til now even with both Poppy and myself working to heal a majority of the injuries.' His expression softened another notch and a haunted look appeared in his eyes for a brief moment before he slammed a blank mask over his face. Most of the people in the room missed this but his fellow teachers and Ginny had been looking straight at him while he was talking. A little puzzled at this strange behaviour, she considered asking but decided that it wasn't worth the pain that the question would inflict on every one including Snape himself. A thump from the stairs caught everyone's attention. Percy walked around half way down to the living area before stopping and looking at the assembled people in a slightly curious, snobbish manor.

'Why exactly are you people here?' he said in a tone that perfectly matched his stance.

'Why exactly do we have to answer to you?' Snape retorted, his sneer back in full force. Percy looked a little shocked that someone had answered back to him but hid it after a second, turning away with his nose in the air and stalking back to his room.

'I'm sorry about that professors, he has been like that ever since he started his job with Mr Crouch.'

Dumbledore held up a hand to stop the rush of words. 'I understand Molly; it is not entirely your fault. You did your best with him. He is just a naturally difficult person to deal with.'

Mrs Weasley sighed. The night just kept getting worse. "I mean what else could…" she halted herself mid-thought. "No, don't tempt fate, Molly. Nine times out of ten it wins."

Once again silence reigned in the room. After a time though, McGonagall broke the others out of their thoughts with a simple statement.

'We really should get back to the school soon.' She looked around at the others.

'But you still haven't told us what happened.' Ron said to them.

'I know, but it will affect you worse than I thought.' He thought for a moment. 'I will tell you though that Mr Potter will not be returning to his aunt and uncle's house but as we still don't exactly know who is responsible for his injuries I cannot tell you much more. I promise that I will tell you when we have found out some more, with Harry's permission of course.' He turned toward the fireplace to leave then stopped, turning back to the Weasleys who were still staring at the three teachers in shock. 'I will owl you sometime tomorrow to let you know how he is going but I think it would be safest for you to stay here until he wakes. Good evening to you all.' He picked up a hand full of floo powder from off the top of the mantel and with a last glance over his shoulder threw it in. 'Headmaster's office, Hogwarts.'

He was followed by Snape, who had once again pulled the mask over his expression. Professor McGonagall looked at each of the family in the room.

'Would you like me to take Hedwig with me? Harry will be delighted to see her when he wakes.'

'That would probably be the best; she won't willingly stay here when Harry isn't and is not allowed to fly much with that wing. The black will want to go too.'

'Sure, I can take both. I will see you later then, goodnight.' Carefully picking up the injured white owl and settling her with one hand she paused so the dark owl could perch on her shoulder before copying the actions of her fellow professors. When she had gone and the fire had returned to normal Ginny stood and walked to the kitchen with the teacups. Molly watched her go and sat in the vacated chair putting her head in her hands. Ron walked over to her and sat on the arm of the chair, putting his arm around her shoulders. When Ginny returned she joined her brother and mum on the couch and the three of them sat in companionable silence. The twins looked at them for a minute before disappearing back to their room.


	7. Chapter 7

When he arrived back in his office, Dumbledore turned to wait for Snape. When he appeared from the flames he looked at him for a moment, the usual twinkle in his eyes non existent.

'What is it, Albus?' he asked, slightly sharper than he normally would have. The headmaster said nothing just raised an eyebrow a fraction.

'Well, I'm not like you. I can't just look at some one and know almost every thing you need to know.'

'that all depends on your perspective. I don't actually know. I am just really good at reading peoples character and guessing their responses from what I find. I have had many years to perfect the art. Even I still get it wrong.'

'Like with Potter.'

'Yes Severus, like with Harry. All these years and I never have even though of the notion that there could be anything wrong with him living with those muggles. He never really gave me any clue that it went beyond that odd episode of locking him in his room with no dinner.'

"oh, hurry up and finish old man. What is it with you doing this." Snape thought viciously. Dumbledore stopped and looked at him for a second, his face taking on a slightly know-all expression and his eyes got a part of their sparkle back. 'But I am sure you will be needing to get back to those potions I know you have to do for Poppy and others.' He said chuckling. Snape glared at him for a second as the fire flared again before turning on his heel and using McGonagall's entrance with the screeching owls to stalk out of the room.

'I will see you tomorrow.' He sent back over his shoulder as he stepped onto the stairs and descended out of sight.

His first though was to head straight to his private quarters but after a minute found himself walking down the corridor to the hospital wing.

"Well, I might as well find out what potions I need to replace those used on Potter." he thought, though deep down inside he knew that this was not the only reason. A terror-filled whimper brought him to a complete stop just outside the polished double doors. After a pause he strode forward, sharply thrusting the nearest of the doors open and letting it swing shut behind him. A quick glance told him that there was no one new in the wing. As he approached the door to madam Pomfrey's office the sound of movement from the only curtained off bed caught his attention.

"Poppy?" he called, expecting an answer from the same direction. The absolute silence met his question broken only by slightly ragged breathing. Snape carefully moved forward to look through the curtain. Potter had managed to uncover him self and was sprawled on top of his sheets with a pained expression locked on his face. Snape went to drop the curtain back into place and as he moved potter started to twitch and after a moment his convulsions became so violet that he would have fallen if it wasn't for the protective barrier. Snape stood and watched, completely unsure of what to do. He had never had to deal with children like this. A little healing like what he had done earlier was the only time that he had any physical contact with the students and even then he had a specific goal in mind. All other human contact had involved pain on his depart.

There was a puzzle, the boy had drunk a heavy dose of dreamless sleep as well as one of the strongest pain relief potions he had on hand. There was noway that he should be moving abut, add that to the fact that they had used almost all of his remaining energy reserves in healing him, leaving just enough for his body to function and you have a situation that some people would not see the end of! Let alone wake from less than three hours later. Another, slightly shrill whine brought him out of his thoughts. Moving quicker than he normally would have Snape turned on his heel and marched into madam Pomfrey's office as he had originally intended. At the sight of the empty room he called for her again. Some one behind him coughed behind him and he spun around to see the portrait on the back of the door watching him expectantly. When he made no move she sigh exaggeratedly and flicking her hair over her shoulder recited a note.

'Madam Pomfrey is currently unavailable. She received a message via the floo network from her sister who required a midwife and as she was the most convenient would have no one else. She shall be staying with her sister after the birth to ensure nothing goes wrong with the infant and to rest before returning.'

'Are you sure that was the exact message you were given.'

'Of course I am sure. I even wrote it on the inside of my frame just in case.'

'That would be the only way that you could remember anything.' he said sarcastically. 'I don't suppose she left any other messages that you happen to remember, nothing about her other patient?'

'What other patient?'

'Fine then,' he sneered. 'do you know wether she made a list of what potions need to be made?'

when she started to look at her frame he roughly opened the door on which she was set and left without another word. in the main wing all noise had once again stopped. Snape sighed in relief but couldn't help peeking in the curtain as he passed. That glimpse was enough for him to find himself standing against the inside of them watching as the boy slept. This time he had managed to get himself jammed up against the bed head, lying on his half healed collarbone. His breathing was still fairly harsh and sweat was beading on his face. After a few minutes it was clear that Potter had managed to knock himself into a deeper sleep and was not about to move himself out of it. Looking out of the curtains he checked that no one had come in before moving over to the bed. carefully, he reached out and hesitantly he picked the boy up and without changing his position too much laid him back down in the middle of the bed.

"That wasn't so bad." He told him self almost laughing in relief. A sudden thought hit him though as the face in front of him flinched slightly. He would move again in a few minutes and have to be put back again. Automatically he began to think of alternatives, more potions were out of the question as the boy had ingested quite enough already and much more would be dangerous. Maybe an ordinary sleeping draught? No, but what else could he do?

When his wondering thoughts turned up nothing of use he tried looking at the problem in a different perspective. Why was he moving in the first place? The answer to that would make it much easier to prevent its continuance. The potions were certainly not the problem, he had brewed them himself and he had never failed a potion before. Maybe it was how much had eaten. Did they work as well on an empty stomach? Or a completely empty digestive tract? maybe his gut wasn't functioning well enough to absorb the concoction. Damn it! This just had to happen now of all times, with the dark lord back and gaining power rapidly. His lord! Could he have given the boy something that would react with the dreamless sleep? He though back over what potions he had prepared for the dark lord since his return, several things turned up but each as unlikely as the last. Snap sighed profoundly and ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair. He needed help, someone who had some idea of how to deal with this because as much as he wished it weren't, this child was at this time his responsibility. It just had to be this boy too didn't it? The whole situation would be a lot easier to deal with if it wasn't the son of the chief tormenter of his school days. Even a Hufflepuff, or another Gryffindor would have been alright and that was saying a lot. A foot step behind him made him jump to the present and realise that the boy was once again twitching. He turned to see who it was that had entered with out him knowing. He was not all that surprised when Dumbledore stuck his head though the curtains and looked curiously at the trembling boy. As the ocean blue eyes turned towards him he quickly wiped the look of relief off his face, replacing it with a blank mask.

'Do you know why Mr potter is doing that?' Dumbledore asked.

'No, I don't. he has been given dreamless sleep potion as well as a strong pain reliever and blood replenishing potions. By all means he should not be waking for at least another four hours but anywhere up to ten…' his voice trailed off.

'I see.' the elderly headmaster said thoughtfully. 'There is no way that this could be caused by the combination of the potions them selves, is there?'

Snape's mask slipped and a look of frustration took its place. 'To my knowledge all the potions that Poppy and I used were meant to be used in the same combinations are we did. Most don't react anyway and as I brewed all the potions my self I highly doubt mistakes. I have already tried every combination of little errors and such like that that I could think of and none of them would cause this reaction.' Through out this little speech Snape's voice had risen to almost a shout.

'I see.' Was the only response that he got and by that time Potter had managed to contort himself s he was laying on several of his major injuries. After a decent pause he stepped forward with a little snarl and laid the boy flat again.

'He is going to end up redoing some of the damage that we managed to heal at this rate and he hasn't got the reserves for us to fix him up again. He was too far gone by the time we had patched him up for us to get him to eat anything and a nutrient potion was out of the question so he isn't going to be betting much strength back anytime soon.'

'I see.' Snape growled quietly at this. 'is there any way to immobilise him gently?'

'Don't you think that if I had thought of a method then I would have already tried it? And if you say "I see" one more time I am going to loose it.'

Dumbledore chuckled but refrained from saying it. 'what would be wrong with a body bind and a monitor charm or alarm of some sort to let you know when he awakens?'

'That would mean that I can't start any potions or retire for what sleep I could get anytime soon. But other than that I suppose it might work.'

'Good, in that case I will leave it in your capable hands. Oh, by the way, why are you here instead of poppy?'

'Her sister required her and will most likely not be returning for two or more days.'

'I see. I'm sure you can handle it until then, good morning.'

With that he turned and left the fuming potions master with his charge. As soon as he heard the hospital wing door close Snape vented some of his frustration in a series of muttered insults and obscenities at the situation in general and buried the rest under his usual mask. A quick scan let him know that Potter had not done him self any serious damage and was not under much stress from pain. The monitoring spell would have to focus specifically on when he was rising through the last level of sleep so he could floo up release the spell before the boy was fully alert. He would also have to set proximity alarms on the doors and fire place. With all of this done and the body bind set, he followed the headmaster's path and left the hospital wing, making his way down to the dungeons and his private quarters.

There you go, thanks to Harry and Kaitlyn Potter for the suggestion of the name. It was much appreciated. Sorry the chapters aren't very long.


	8. Chapter 8

The first thing that Harry was aware of was pain. It was every where and the closer he got to waking the worse it became until he had come around enough that even though he tried to stay quiet so he wouldn't attract any attention, he screamed.

After what seemed like an hour of floating somewhere between consciousness and sleep Harry started to drift closer to alertness again biting his tongue to keep from making any more noise. Slowly and carefully he prized open his eyes to the point where he could make out a figure kneeling beside him. "Vernon!" Was his first thought. As he attempted to move away the person lent closer, talking to him quietly though he couldn't make out the words. Uncle Vernon would never talk to him like that he told himself it must be someone who is going to help me.

'Potter,' He heard the person say but Harry could not made any sense out of the rest of it. 'Potion' was the next distinct word, followed by 'swallow' and a disgusting tasting substance was poured into his mouth. Faintly he heard 'swallow' again so he tried though it hurt even more to do so. With his remaining energy he tried to see who was rescuing him. Concentrating on one thing at a time he managed to pick that the person had long-ish black hair, dark eyes and a crooked nose. Who did he know that looked like that? All of a sudden it hit him.

"Snape!" he thought as he slid back into unconsciousness.

Briefly he became aware again but he wasn't sure if he was as he seemed to be floating down through the air on the some thing. He was just dropping back into his dream state when some thing pulled him back firmly and held him there. Bit by bit pain in the worst places intensified and then… It stopped. Every now and again he heard 'swallow' and more different foul potions were tipped into his mouth. Just as he was loosing he grip on wakefulness a last two of these were given to him. One that took the remaining pain away and another which pulled him back into sleep.

After a while Harry started to drift again bit by bit until he came to what seemed like a huge glass door. He looked at it for a little while because on the other side he could see the 'alert' level of sleep, before trying to open it but it wouldn't budge. He started to get frustrated with it, banging on it with all his might but still it wouldn't move or break. He 'heard' a noise behind him and turned around to see a tendril of darkness lash out and wrap around his arms pulling him back into sleep.

On and on it went like this until finally the door shifted a little just enough for him to slip through and back to wakefulness. Against the other side of the door was a net of light with a distinct red band running the entire length. "Yes!" He thought and run through the barrier only to find himself trapped. Try as he might he could not even move a finger only his eyes still worked so he fought them open. White every thing was white, not that he could see more than the ceiling and the top of a curtain.

"I wasn't dreaming," he thought recognising the distinctive smell of a wizard hospital. "But could it be..."

He looked harder at the ceiling and sure enough he found a faint gold line high above him in the rough shape of a lion, the Gryffindor lion. "Snape must have brought me to Hogwarts."

From the other end of what Harry now knew to be the Hogwarts hospital wing he heard the roar of the fire increase and someone stumble as they hurried out of it dusting themselves as they approached his bed. He saw the curtains twitch and a smooth voice said 'finite incantem.'

His automatic reaction was to get away from this person and to his surprise he could. He sat up sharply and tried to scramble back to wards the bed head. A sharp pain ripped through his right leg and his arm at the movement and when he tensed more pain shot from his chest. Relaxing as best he could while still sitting he saw exactly who had come in.

'Snape?' asked in a relieved voice.

'Yes Potter?' Snape asked sharply. Ignoring the pain Harry used his left leg to push him self further back to get out of his reach. Snape looked at the boys wide eyes and sighed. He was really ging to have to watch how he responded to this child. He looked like he thought he was going to get hit and looking at his condition it was no wonder. 'Potter?' he asked in a slightly softer tone.

'What… how did I get here? Did you bring me? I thought I saw you at my… uncles.'

Snape was surprised at this. 'Professor Dumbledore was notified that your owl had turned up at the Weasleys in a poor state so he asked professor McGonagall and myself to accompany him to check on you. It was him who brought you here but I did give you a blood replenishing potion before you were moved.'

'Hedwig! Is she alright?'

'Your owl will be fine Molly Weasley took her into Diagon alley and got her check over.'

Harry looked relieved at this. 'I wasn't sure if she could make it. Vernon…' he paused shivering in fear. 'He threw her cage and it broke open. I wasn't sure if she had escaped or if he had killed her.'

Snape looked at the boy. He could understand being worried about a pet's safety but Potter looked absolutely terrified by the notion that he might have lost his owl. Shrugging it off he turned back to the problem at hand.

'Why are you here instead of madam Pomfrey?' He heard Harry ask.

'She had to go to her sisters and I have the greatest knowledge of the potions that we used on you and the damage that was done to you. It may not have been my choice to be doing this but neither Professor Dumbledore nor professor McGonagall were present while madam Pomfrey started to heal some of the damage.' Even to him self his voice sounded almost disgusted at the idea.

'Oh, ok.' Was the quiet response. 'I'm fine now though you don't have to stay.'

'Actually Potter, I do have to stay. You were quite badly injured when we brought you here and there wasn't much that we could do. As much as I hate it I am under obligation to ensure that you eat and get plenty of rest.' He snapped his fingers twice and a house elf appeared.

"Harry potter, sir!" It said with a bow. "Professor Snape, sir. How can Dobby help?"

"A breakfast tray please." Harry told him.

"Dobby is glad to help the great Harry Potter sir." He disappeared again with a loud crack.

"Did it occur to you that I might want some food too?" Snape asked Harry acidly.

"Yes sir. That is why I didn't tell him to only bring a small tray." He replied nervously. Sure enough a few seconds later Dobby returned with a very full tray which he placed carefully on the table next to the bed.

"Is you wanting anything else, sir?"

"No, that will be sufficient." With another bow he left. As soon as he was gone Snape looked at the mountain of food and large pot of coffee and a jug of juice and said.

"Does he always over do things?"

"Oh no, he probably would even more but I only asked for one tray. I think he found the biggest one he could too." Shaking his head Snape conjured another tray as well as a glass and a plate, splitting the food fairly evenly between them.

"Now I am not going to follow you up and make sure you eat a good amount like Poppy would but I expect you to consume at the very least half of what I left. I am going to get some more potions."

He picked up his breakfast and walked out, leaving a very confused Harry to eat.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N I am sorry about the wait but because of a new storyline and many other happenings I just haven't been getting much time to write. Hopefully I will be able to write more over the holiday period.

It wasn't until almost two hours later that Harry finally gathered the courage to speak to the glowering potions master. Snape had spent the entire time from when he got back with the potions glaring at anything in his path as he stalked around the hospital wing inspecting the various cabinets. Or at least Harry thought he had, a few times he had caught him standing, looking rather confusedly at Harry. That was to much for his brain to take at that point though, so he put the information aside for later.

"Sir?"

"Yes, Potter?" Snape replied semi-civilly.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"At least until madam Pomfrey has seen you so don't start complaining yet."

"Oh." He replied. "were any of my things brought here?"

"I believe professor Dumbledore found what he could but he mentioned something about an invisibility cloak missing along with a few other items."

"I had them under a loose floor board under my bed to stop them from being destroyed."

Snape nodded once as made a mental note to tell Dumbledore about the floor board.

"Was there anywhere else that you though up to hide items in that the headmaster should know about?" Harry was brought up short again by the fact that Snape's response had no hint of malice in it. While he was puzzling over this he answered.

"No sir."

"Good, I must inform him of the fact, I will be back soon. Don't do anything Griffindorish will you." Unable to resist giving a small barb, he turned and walked out of the hospital wing. Harry watched him go with a shake of his head which sent it spinning again. This behavior was really starting to get to him he decided when everything was holding still again. One minute he was nice and then he seemed to realise what he was doing and change. With a sigh he pushed him self further down the bed and pulled the blankets up, drifting off to sleep.

When he awoke Snape was sitting in the chair next to his bed reading a potions magazine with his legs stretched out in front of him. The sight made Harry blink. This was the same Snape who insulted him all term wasn't it? What had happened to make him do that? Or was it just holiday mode? Trying not to startle him, Harry stretched his legs as far as they would go, sucking in his breath as the motion sent pain coursing through them. It worked though as Snape dropped the magazine on the bedside table and stood in the same motion.

"Dumbledore has sent someone over to get the rest of your belongings." He said with out any introduction. When Harry nodded in a slightly dazed manner he reached over and selected a vial from the rack next to the magazine. He handed it wordlessly to Harry who pushed himself up and downed it gagging a little at the taste. Harry gave the empty vial back and after it was back in its place on the rack Snape sat again, this time straighter. Neither of them moved for several minutes, not willing to break the silence which had settle tensely over the room. It was Dumbledore who ended up doing it for them when he came through the doors with two owls. Harry recognised both of them imediately.

"Hedwig!" he called. Dumbledore continued to hold her until she was safely settled on the plain bed head.

"You have a brave owl there Harry." Dumbledore comented. "But she is not allowed to fly until her wing has healed." Harry stroked Hedwig's soft feathers as best he could with his right hand, wincing as it made the fractured bones shift. "And neither are you." He finished when he caught the movement.

"Have you had any news from Poppy?" Snape asked him.

"No, I haven't. I was going to ask you the same question."

"Wonderful. I have got a lot of potions to brew before the end of the break and you know how long some of them take. I need to know soon when I can start. We are also low on pain relief potions, Potter here can tell you how bad that is." With a glance at Harry the elderly headmaster responded.

"I see." Which was soon followed by a quick grin of honest mirth at the look on Snape's face. Harry was shocked, he had never seen any one banter like this with Snape. The glare that he had leveled at the still chuckling head master didn't look as real and his eyes seemed to be almost laughing.

"What have I asked you about that, Albus?" he gowled out.

"Hmm. No, I cannot remember anything." He said blandly with a small smirk. The black owl hooted in agitation and flew over to where Hedwig sat, perching next to her.

"Who does that owl belong to? I haven't seen him around." Snape asked.

"I don't know sir, I think he is wild. He came to my window one night when Hedwig was complaining and from then on he brought us mice, scraps and almost anything he could carry. A lot of it didn't look edible and more than one gift made me sick but it was all we had. I don't think he understands why Hedwig shared everything with me but he still helped." The potions professor studied the bird in curiosity, looking for any identifying features of an unknown deatheater animagus. Seeing none he turned to Hedwig, she seemed unsettled but that could be explained by the traumatic events of the previous days. As he stared at her though she sidled towards the black.

"Hedwig seems to be rather attached to him, are you going to be keeping him?" Harry looked at Snape before answering.

"I am not going to get rid of him now. He saved me and even if I did send him away he would just come back again." Albus was glancing between his boys with an increasingly delighted expression. They seemed to be getting along fine, though a little more encouragement was in order if it was going to work. Butting back into the conversation he asked a simple question of Snape.

"How ergent is it that you get some of these potions made?" after a pause Snape answered.

"I think there is enough pain relief potion to last for two more days if nothing else goes wrong." He looked pointedly at Harry as he said this. "I also had to abandon the batch of dreamless sleep that I was brewing so I could aid Poppy so I need to redo that as well. Why do you ask?" he finished suspiciously.

"Oh, no reason in particular. Would you have to work in the dungeons to complete them?"

"Yes albus, I would." He replied.

"Oh, well then. You will have to leave them until this afternoon. Now I have to see to some letters which arived before I came down here." With that he turned and left, humming an enoying little tune.

"Now what is he up too." Snape asked of noone in particular with a well hidden touch of fondness in his voice.

"I don't know but it doesn't bode well for us." Harry replied.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: if you recognise it, it isn't mine. It belongs to JK Rowling, lucky her!

At the Weasley's, Ginny was pacing. She had not heard a single thing about Harry's condition since the teachers visit and what little information they had prized out of them had not done anything to reassure her.

'He almost didn't make it. He almost died.' She reminded herself again as she wonder what had happened in the four hours that had passed since the professors had left. Around and around her bedroom she went. At times she stopped and gazed out the window, searching the skies for dappled wings but each time a few minutes was all she could stand before she was off again. Eventually she wore herself down enough that she flopped down on her bed. Even though she was absolutely exhausted she couldn't sleep.

"Breakfast!" came the call from down stairs. With a sigh which turned into a yawn she clambered to her feet and made her way down. Ron was sitting at one end of the table when she got to the dining room looking almost as bad as she felt. His eyes were blood shot and the dark bags under them were a mute testimony to the fact that he hadn't slept at all. A single glance at her mother was enough to say the same there. Her father had already left the house for work and the twins had yet to show up for breakfast. The clatter of cutlery hitting the table made Ginny realise that she was looking for signs of betrayal amongst her family. Percy's behaviour had affected her more then she thought it had and she wasn't sure who she could trust.

When they had finished eating and the dishes were washed and put away, the five Weasleys gathered in the living room to await news regarding Harry. The silence that had descended over the place was so heavy they seemed to bend under the pressure. Finally it got too much for one of the twins. With a muttered curse which his mother glared at him for, Fred yanked himself out of the chair he was lounged in and over to the fire place. A handful of floo powder later and he was facing Dumbledore's head in the fire.

"He has woken." Was the first thing that the headmaster said when he saw who was in the room. "Professor Snape said that his injuries are well on the way to healing though we are wait for Poppy to return before we use any more spells on him. The potions are working well though so he should be well enough to receive visitors in a few days at the most."

Relief flooded the room throwing of the silence and bringing back to their minds the unanswered questions of the night before, the biggest of which; was it Harry's muggle family who had done this to him? After a few moments of thought Dumbledore predicted what the next question would be.

"Right now we are leaving any questions until Harry in stronger, so we don't know for certain if it was the Dursley's or some other unknown who did this to him."

"Thankyou for telling us." Ginny said quietly. Dumbledore took in the appearance of the Weasleys present and was surprised to see how badly they were affected. This, more than anything else proved to him how attached to Harry they really were, to them he was one of the clan. Ginny could see the revelation in his eyes.

'Good' she thought. Maybe he could see how well he fitted in and would let him stay for longer this summer. This could be just the thing to use to push the headmaster into letting Harry live with them permanently. Her mother would be happy enough to give him Percy's room as soon as he moved out, which she knew wouldn't be very far in the future after his behaviour towards the rest of the family.

"That's perfectly alright Miss Weasley." He said with a little more of his usual sparkle and energy as he pulled back and disappeared with a small pop. The Weasley's sat and absorbed the information silently for several minutes. It was George who was he first to speak this time.

"Well that helped." He said to his brother. Fred laughed and stood, helping his brother to his feet.

"I don't know about you lot but I think I might just see if I can concentrate on some work in my room, what say you Forge? Should we try that formula we discussed?"

"I say you read my mind Gred. Do cheer up my fellow clan members." George told them grandly. "Our honorary brother is on the mend!"

"Nicely done, very diplomatic." Fred told him as they walked over to the stairs. "If you don't watch it though you'll end up like the dear Minister Fudge." He burst out laughing at the glare George sent him and race for the room they shared with his twin in hot pursuit. They heard the boy's feet thundering up the stairs their door slam closed.

With a sigh Mrs Weasley hauled herself out of her chair stretching as she headed for the kitchen.

"Do you want to help me with some baking Ginny, Ron?" she asked the other two.

"No thanks mum. Every time I start measuring and mixing anything together I get the distinct feeling that professor Snape is going to appear right behind me and give me detention for something." Ron said with a shudder. Ginny looked at him and shook her head.

"You really do have a problem with him don't you? Maybe it's because you have spent a year longer under his tuition or maybe it is just that I am better than you, but I never have that problem. What are we making mum?"

"I will pretend I didn't here you make most of those comments but you shouldn't be saying that about anyone. Now we need to make a couple batches of biscuits, scones and a few cakes. It doesn't take this family long at all to go through even that amount of food." She turned and bustled into the kitchen looking much livelier than before. Her voice floated through the doorway as Ginny headed to the door. "What do you say, should we make a special cake for Harry? Or maybe some of that hand made fudge he likes so much?"

AN: sorry about the delay between chapters. I have been having a lot of trouble transferring anything from my laptop to the school computers and I figured I had less chance of losing access to the computers if I waited until this weekend when I could go home. I have also put some new stuff on 'Assassin's Apprentice' if you want to read it. Please review and tell me what you think, I don't want to put up any thing too crappy.


	11. Chapter 11

In the hospital wing the morning passed quickly. Both Harry and Snape had spent most of it reading their respective books with limited speech passing between them. What did though was almost free of the usual antagonism; of course there was the odd comment, but they had a hint of something else behind it. Harry was amazed to see that the surly potions master had a decent if somewhat dark sense of humour, which he hid well in most circumstances but came out at odd intervals. It was almost like the whole 'bastard bat of the dungeons' persona was just a mask and the real Severus Snape was someone totally different and almost normal. That mask was well set though, sitting just below the surface ready to reappear at the first sign of disturbance. Harry was fairly sure of that fact, having seen glimpses of it when he started to speak. Snape forced it back down each time when he failed to deliver a nasty comment or insult. Carefully they had stuck to talking about things that had no actual relevance to anything outside.

Severus too had been observing Harry's behaviour closely. He was wondering how the boy had failed to show the usual signs of abuse and started to keep a watch for the normal behaviours. After a while he realised that they were indeed present, just very much muted. When he went to speak or reply he tensed as if waiting for the blow that was sure to follow and the same tension appeared whenever Severus made an unexpected movement. The boys self control was phenomenal in this aspect now that he was awake, even he had to admit that. However it didn't stop him from following that up with the thought that if he had even the slightest amount of the same control and discipline when it came to other areas such as school work he might succeed in learning more. The nastiness of the remark made him feel a little better about being civil on the outside, it was potter after all. It would not do to get out of practice of insulting the boy and end up getting in trouble for it later.

By the time they had ordered lunch both had some what settled with the knowledge that nothing too bad would be coming from the other. Neither had let his guard down too far though and they continued to watch each others reactions. After the dishes were sent back to the kitchen they settled back down Severus to his book and Harry for a nap.

Almost as soon as Harry had dozed off he started to move again twitching and shaking, his breathing getting rougher. Muttering quietly he flinched to one side, landing again on an injury. Severus pulled out his wand quickly and cast a full body bind on him before settling back in his seat. Nightmares were some thing that he could relate to, they had affected him for years. He could no longer remember what it was like to go a full night without one of them and yet he could still remember the first one clearly. It had been after his first revel as a death eater almost two months after he had been marked, three before his 16th birthday. That night he had seen the true extent of what his potions could be used for and just some of the horrors the he not only had to face, but had to inflict on others. The worst part though, the true cause of his nightly torments were the victims themselves. They had been a pair of muggleborns who had been married a few months after graduation two years before. Them and their five month old son had been caught trying to flee from their burning home and they had lasted almost two days before they were killed. Being the holidays, he and the rest of the recruits from his class were forced to stay the entire time to fully 'enjoy' the spectacle. That night at the base he had not slept at all and the first night back at his home was the start of what had become a normality.

He started thinking back at some of the things that they had done, especially to the infant and was glad when Dumbledore saw fit to show his face in the wing. At the approaching sound of his feet he gratefully pulled his thoughts back to the present situation. Seeing as it was the holidays, the headmaster had not bothered to control some of his more eccentric urges and Snape had to forcefully refrain from shuddering at the rich lavender and Gryffindor red robes he was wearing.

"how is he going Severus?" the old man asked as soon as he entered.

"I have him under the body bind again to stop him thrashing around. Physically he almost has enough energy back in him to have another try at healing those broken bones. I will give him a potion for that if Pomfrey is not back tonight." The headmaster looked at his boys with a slightly calculating glint in his eye.

"how long has he been sleeping for?"

Casting a quick tempus he answered. "almost an hour but he has been struggling against the body bind for most of that and it won't have done him much good." The twinkle in the old mans eyes became more noticeable at this statement and Snape started to wonder what he had let himself in for when the reply came.

"well then. I would say that when he finally wakes he will have absolutely no interest in sleeping again for a while and may actually be interested in sitting some where different, he never has liked this place much. Didn't you say before that you urgently needed to get on with the potions for the school year? I think that it would be a perfect opportunity to start, if you move Harry's bed to the corner of your personal lab and place some basic wards around him I believe that he would be happy to stay there. It would be a change of scenery and he would be reading if he stayed here anyway so I don't think it will be that much of a problem."

Snape glared at Dumbledore, that interfering old coot! Why did he always have to interfere with every thing that he possibly could? It was bad enough that he was forced to supervise the brat in the hospital wing but to have to put up with an invasion of his private space too was pushing the limits. While he had to admit to himself that the boy was trying not to be too much of a nuisance, making it rather easy to get along with, not that he would never let he old man know, I didn't make a difference. He was by nature a withdrawn person and the thought of allowing anyone even Draco Malfoy into his personal space was instantly fought by his whole self. If a Slytherin couldn't go then there was on way that he would let a Gryffindor, the golden boy at that into those rooms.

"No."

"but come on my lad, it will be beneficial for both sides surely you can see that."

"Albus, what I can see is an invasion. Don't take it as a direct insult to potter or anyone in particular but I have allowed no one in that room except for you and that was because I couldn't keep you out. Not even Draco has seen the inside of my lab or my rooms, that is what I use my office for. That is what I tried to tell you years ago when you gave me the job, I am one of the worst people to take on a job to do with interaction, teaching is bad enough. Will you please leave this idea alone."

Dumbledore looked at the younger man, some of the twinkle fading from his eye. He had known him since he was eleven and in those years a lot had changed but one thing that hadn't was the automatic mistrust of anything human. Unfortunately, Hogwarts had compounded the problem instead of resolving it, with his fellow students often ganging up on him and teaching had not worked either. By providing an inhospitable face to the world, one that when shown to the younger population was sure to bring with it a reputation he had driven every one away from him. It was almost guaranteed that no matter where a new teacher or student had come from they would have heard of him before they arrived and most never even bothered to approach him anymore. In the entire time that Albus had known him the only person he had gotten close to other than the headmaster himself had abandoned him in a time of need. After that it had taken a lot of effort on Albus's behalf to get back through the strengthened barriers which were instantly enforced. Even now he couldn't say with certainty that he was actually through and that after the next incident would still be.

With a mental shake Albus pulled his mind back to the present, realising that he had been silent for too long and Severus thought that he had won. The relief was plain in his eye, wether or not it appeared on his face. Maybe he was pushing them too hard. Deciding to settle on a compromise he responded.

"Well then, how about this then? Work in your office or even the classroom or student labs but take Harry with you. He needs to be watched and I have got a mountain of paperwork which needs to be dealt with today."

"What about Minerva or one of the other teachers? Why can't they look after the boy?"

"Minerva is dealing with the acceptance letters and has owls coming in and out of her office constantly and none of the other teachers are on the grounds at the moment."

"That still doesn't answer the question. Even you could look after him while you work after all, all you asked me to do is put him in a corner with a book."

"Ahh yes, but with you he would be down in the dungeons. We really don't need it to get out to the wizarding population that their boy savoir has been abused and the floo has been worked over time in both of the offices. It would be better to have him out of the way of all that while he heals." The glare that Severus levelled at him was impressive he had to admit but it meant that he had won the battle.

"Fine then. I will take the brat down to the student lab but don't expect any more than that." Snape was fuming. The manipulative old man had managed to again out manoeuvre him. Letting that information get out to the general population was a bad idea, not only would it send them into panicky chaos it might very well compromise his position with the dark lord. Therefore it would be best if the brat was down in the dungeons out of the way.

"Thankyou my boy. It is all that I will ask of you for now." With that Albus turned and walked out, his lurid robes changing to more normal colours as he opened the door.

as the door closed Severus realised that he was standing and settled himself back in the chair he had previously occupied. The boy was again struggling against the hex, sweat beading on his forehead and eyes flickering behind closed lids. He was going to wake soon, Severus could tell. He had gotten physically worked up, whimpering and if it weren't for the body bind, thrashing all over the place. Deciding to get it over and done with he picked up his wand and spelled some cold water on the boy, causing his eyes to fling open. A simple drying charm later and he decided to release the body bind, the brat looked alert enough that he wouldn't move too much when he got the chance. Not waiting for him to say anything Severus started talking.

"The headmaster has decided that I am to make a start on the potions for this place." He said with a look of distaste on his face. "he has ordered that I take you with me so I can supervise you as I work." Having seen the look on the potions masters face Harry kept his eyes low.

"yes, sir."

"I am going to cast an obscuring charm on you and levitate you down to the student laboratory where I can work. Will you hold still or would you prefer that I stun you until we arrive?" Harry looked at Snape in surprise, why was he asking for an opinion? Usually he wouldn't bother.

"I don't want to be stunned but it will hurt too much to be moved so maybe…" he swallowed the terror he could feel rising in his throat at the thought of what he was suggesting. "Maybe it would be best if you put the full body bind on me again."

"as you wish." He stood and collected the books from the night stand, shrinking them and putting them in his pocket before turning back towards Harry. "Petrificus totalis, wingardium leviosa." As the second charm lifted him off the bed Snape took the trailing blanket and flicked the sides over so it was wrapped around him before tacking it there with a charm and casting the obscuring charm over him. Another handy little charm set it to follow him out of the hospital wing and through the corridors. As he turned to leave an insistent hooting broke out, and Potters owl opened its wings to fly after him. Stunning her he dropped her on top of her master and extended the charms to cover her too. Totally ignoring the other owl he turned on his heel and stalked from the room, making his way down to the dungeons.

A/N: I finally managed to write it. I realised that part of my problem with continuing this fic was that I didn't think it was good enough to bother with. When I found it on some ones favorites list though I dicided to read it as if it was someone elses and was surprised to find that it wasn't so bad after all. A big thank you to everyone who reviewed, it was a big help. The next chapter shouldn't be so long in coming but I can make no guarantees.


	12. Chapter 12

A/N:

hey everyone. sorry about not updating this story in ages. i have been unable to get any real time to write and have lost the story line. Studebaker1960

has kindly offered to take over the writing of this fanfic so look for it there.


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